Friday, February 18, 2011

The fight over public sector unions is now fully nationalized. That is not surprising, given what is at stake. Public sector unions are the single most important part of the modern Democratic power base. Their political power is huge and they uniformly support Democrats. Moreover, their money is ultimately appropriated from all taxpayers through mandatory union dues taken from public worker salaries.______________________________________________

Government unions are simply a parasite on the U.S. economy. When President Obama came into office, he shielded government unions from transparency by ending their reporting requirements to the Department of Labor. As a result it is impossible for the American people to know for sure how much of their taxpayer revenue is being diverted into union coffers. But if you assume that each union member pays between $500 and $750 annually, taken involuntarily directly from their paychecks, that means the government union industry in Wisconsin is worth at least $100 million a year.

If government employees want to voluntarily form associations and lobby the government for higher pay, better benefits, and working conditions, that is their constitutional right. But they have no right to force all employees to join their organization and take money from their paychecks every week.

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Pull the rug out from under public sector unions and the modern wing of the Democrat Party is doomed. Thus do we see Obama challenging Wisconsin's "assault on unions" and his organizing arm in the DNC going all out to organize protests, including bussing in union thugs from other states. But it is not just limited to Wisconsin. The DNC is repeating this throughout numerous states with new Republican majorities, including Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, Maine, and Pennsylvania.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement in response to reports that ‘Organizing for America’ – President Obama’s political operation – is helping to incite protests against reform-minded governors across the country:

“The President of the United States has a unique opportunity and responsibility to lead this nation. President Obama has acknowledged the challenges we face, but – thus far – he has done nothing to offer solutions. Now, worse, his political organization is colluding with special-interest allies across the country to demagogue reform-minded governors who are making the tough choices that the President is avoiding.

“This is not the way to begin an ‘adult conversation' about solutions to the big challenges facing our country. Rather than inciting protests against those who speak honestly about the challenges we face, the President and his advisers should lead.

“When the American people watched the people of Greece take to the streets to protest cuts to unsustainable government programs, they worried it might foreshadow events in our nation’s distant future – but today, we see the same sort of protests on the streets of Madison, fueled by President Obama’s own political machine.

“Rather than trying to ‘win the future,’ the President’s political allies are trying, desperately, to cling to a failed past by fighting reforms our nation needs to liberate our economy from the shackles of debt and create a better future for our children and grandchildren. The President should make it clear to his friends that the people of Wisconsin, and states across America, can handle their own affairs without Washington special-interest money and meddling. . . .